Two
rate credits that customers of Avista Utilities are now receiving expire on
Oct. 31 and, as a result, customers could be getting slight increases if the Avista
applications are approved by the Idaho Public Utilities Commission. The
commission is taking comments through Oct. 21 on both applications.

Neither
of the proposed adjustments, if approved, will increase Avista earnings.

Avista’s
annual Purchase Gas Cost Adjustment (PGA) goes up or down each year depending
on the previous year’s wholesale gas and transportation prices and a forecast
of the upcoming year’s prices. Wholesale gas prices continue to decline but not
at the same level as last year when customers received an average 22 percent
decrease. Avista is proposing an average 4.3 percent increase for Idaho
customers. An average residential customer who uses about 63 therms per month
would receive an increase of about $2.75 per month if the application is
approved.

The
second application is the result of a decision by the Bonneville Power
Administration to reduce the size of a credit the federal power marketing agency
gives to residential and small-farm customers of investor-owned utilities in
four Northwest states. The Avista credit is currently 0.289 cents per kWh and
Bonneville is reducing that credit to 0.147 cents per kWh. The proposed rate
credit resulted from a settlement agreement between BPA and Avista. The reduced
credit will increase an average residential by about 1.65 percent.

BPA
is a not-for-profit federal agency that markets power from 31 federal
hydroelectric dams and a nuclear plant in the Northwest. The 1980 Northwest
Power Act required that residential and small-farm customers in the Northwest
share in the benefits of the federal hydroelectric projects located in the
region. Avista applies the benefits it receives, which usually fluctuate
annually, to customers as a credit on their monthly electric bill.

Comments on either
or both of these cases are accepted via e-mail by accessing the commission’s
homepage at www.puc.idaho.gov and
clicking on "Comments & Questions About a Case." Fill in the case
number (AVU-G-10-03 for the gas PGA; AVU-E-10-04 for the BPA credit) and enter
your comments. Comments can also be mailed to P.O. Box 83720, Boise, ID
83720-0074 or faxed to (208) 334-3762.

A
full text of the commission’s order, along with other documents related to
these cases, is available on the commission’s Web site. Click on “File Room”
and then on “Gas Cases” and scroll down to the above case number for the PGA case.
Select “Electric Cases,” and the above case number for the BPA credit case.